As parents, there are many ways to help your child in the area of Maths. By using Maths language in everyday situations, you can support the work being done in school:

  • Try to include some of the ideas below in your daily routines.
  • Try to make Maths fun at home.
  • Sing songs, recite rhymes and read stories that have a number in them.
  • Simple dot to dot puzzle books and games such as Snakes and Ladders are great ways of practising number order.

Helping at home

  • Match socks into pairs.
  • Let your child help with the cooking. Ask them to get 2 eggs etc. Let them help with measuring.
  • Count objects.
  • Separate the coloured/white clothes before using the washing machine.
  • Separate clothing into correct piles- Mum/Dad/each child etc.
  • Separate objects into correct categories- put all the tin cans/cups/ spoons together etc.
  • Encourage your child to sort his/her toys into groups- red/blue bricks, big/small teddies etc.

Calendar

Look at your calendar with your child. Ask them questions relating to it, such as:

  • What day of the week is it? Today is……
  • What day was yesterday?
  • What day will it be tomorrow?
  • What month is it?
  • How many days in a week?
  • Let’s say the months of the year.
  • What season is it?
  • Can you name all the seasons?

Telling the time

  • Encourage your child to look at the clock. Ask them to be “Timekeeper”. Ask them to tell you when it is 2 o’clock.
  • Play games like “What Time Is It Mr. Wolf?”
  • Read stories that have time in them.
  • Help your child develop a sense of time e.g. We’ll play Snakes and Ladders – after we eat our dinner.

Shape

  • What 2d shapes can you see?
  • What 3d shapes can you see?
  • What shapes can you see?
  • What shapes are the signposts?
  • Play “Guess My Shape”- Encourage your child to try to identify a shape you are thinking about, but answer only using Yes/No. E.g Does it have 3 sides?

Setting the table

  • How many people are there?
  • How many knives/forks do we need?
  • Do we have enough/too many?
  • Match cups to plates.
  • Where do we put the knives (left/right)?
  • Separate cutlery into correct categories- put all the spoons together etc.

Bed time

  • How many ears does the Teddy have?
  • Can you count the stairs as we go to bed?
  • Sequence the day-what did we do today (in order)?
  • Who will be first/last to get into bed?

Out and about

  • What colours can you see?
  • Play “I’m thinking of a number”- Pick a number between1-10, 1-20 and allow your child to guess what it is.
  • In the car or out and about, ask your child to try simple addition- 2 and 3 makes?, 4 and 1 makes?
  • Who will be first/second/third to get into the car?
  • Count the blue cars.
  • How many trucks can you count?
  • What numbers can you see?
  • How many doors can you count?

At the supermarket

  • Can you get 3 tins of beans for me?
  • Find a big/small bag of pasta.
  • Put 4 tomatoes in a bag.
  • I have 3 apples in this hand and one orange in this hand, how much fruit do I have altogether?
  • Create a shop at home. Allow your child to make price tags for items around the home, and play “shop” with them. “Can I have an apple and a pizza? How much does that cost?”.

At the restaurant

  • How many menus/glasses/plates etc do we need?
  • Who ordered chips?
  • How many people ordered pizza?
  • Who has the biggest/smallest dinner?

Money

  • Find the biggest coin.
  • Find the smallest coin.
  • Is it worth the most/least?